Going down a storm

Straight-talking Kieran McAnulty is the right bloke for the job of convincing people to accept the latest water reform proposal.

- MICHELE HEWITSON

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the waters... it isn't. Three Waters, which nobody appeared to understand or was able to explain, is gone. And hooray. But wait, it hasn't actually gone. Instead, it has grown tentacles. Three Waters is now 10 waters, otherwise known as the Affordable Waters Reform. Oh, well, that should clear everything up. Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has been given the chore of explaining and selling the thing. He's the right bloke for the job, which still looks like a poisoned chalice.

You can lead an electorate to water, but the trick is getting it to drink. It will still be a hard sell, but if anyone can sell it, McAnulty can. He could flog a one-legged sheep dog to a farmer. He managed, amazingly, to sell himself to the Wairarapa, a true-blue region, mostly white, Christian and conservative. At the time of the last general election, National had held the seat since 2005. He won it by 6545 votes over his nearest rival, National's Mike Butterick. McAnulty is a Wairarapa boy through and through. He's a country boy through and through. He gets about the place in his red, much-used and battered ute, which for a time had a smashed back window and a missing sun roof. He chucks his pie wrappers on the floor. He stubs out his fag butts on the floor. You can't go chucking fag butts out the window in the country. It's a fire hazard. He is a practical bugger.

He smokes rollies. He once told me: "I'm not frightened of a cigarette." He likes a drink. He got drunk on election night. This is most certainly not uncommon for politicians on election nights. It is the admitting to getting drunk to a journalist (me) that is unusual.